Shipping lines and forwarders warned of a potential container shortage in Vietnam in the coming weeks amid the country’s efforts to fight a resurging COVID-19 outbreak. Local exporters are increasingly concerned about getting out of goods from factories and finding truckers to deliver them to seaports. They said they experienced delays of two to five days to ship goods from Cat Lai and Cai Mep ports in Ho Chi Minh City.
Saigon Newport Corporation said the number of containers jammed at the Cat Lai port had reached nearly 100% of its capacity in the last three weeks. The operator said it had halted receiving refrigerated cargoes and would not receive oversized and overweight cargoes from August 5 to August 16. The company said there were currently 250 staff working on the port, a reduction of 50% from normal days due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Container carrier HMM said barge services are also being disrupted, making it harder for ships to berth at the deepwater port of Cai Mep. The trucking capacity in and out of the two ports is also reduced as truckers need to pass health checkpoints set up by the government.
HMM expects equipment shortages at major Vietnamese ports to persist through August. Meanwhile, Maersk has notified customers that it expected equipment availability to be insufficient to satisfy the demand for Vietnamese exports. Market participants also expressed concerns that COVID-19 would further disrupt operations in Southeast Asian ports. One of them informed that customs staffing was reduced due to COVID-19 infections at Indonesian and Malaysian ports.
Tags: All Products,AlwaysFree,Asia Pacific,English,SEA,Vietnam
Published on August 3, 2021 10:04 AM (GMT+8)Last Updated on August 3, 2021 10:04 AM (GMT+8)
